Digitally Downloaded - Wizardy Collection Review

September 20th, 2013, 04:06

Digitally Downloaded has a new review for the recently released Wizardy(6,7, 8) games on Steam.

The balance in each game is solid. Challenging in the extreme, but solid. Making some good choices with the character combinations and their skills, and taking meticulous maps will help greatly in getting through the adventure. Being lazy or careless will earn defeat. By modern standards that's going to sound harsh, but in reality it provides players with a special, rare kind of agency; genuine success is in their hands.

With that said, it's going to be hard for people who haven't played these games before (or, at least, other retro RPGs) to step into any of the Wizardry games in this package thanks to the absence of tutorials or… well, explanation in general, really. One of the good things that modern game design has given us is crystal clear interfaces, articulate tutorials and, at the least, an introduction that doesn't potentially throw them into a lethal conflict. Less old school RPG fans are going to really struggle to retain interest for long enough to feel comfortable with everything that's going on in these surprisingly rich gameplay systems and mechanics.

But then this is three incredibly long and engaging RPGs for a tiny price. It's hard to imagine a better value package on Steam, and, frankly, short of the old SSI Dungeons & Dragons games being released on Steam as well, I can't think of games I could be happier to have on my hard drive again. This, here, is my childhood returned to me in one almighty nostalgic rush.

"One of the good things that modern game design has given us is crystal clear interfaces, articulate tutorials and, at the least, an introduction that doesn't potentially throw them into a lethal conflict."

Heresy! j/k That's something we old schoolers often forget, there was a huge learning curve for many of the old RPGs. That's not necessarily a bad thing except when that learning curve is due to interface issues. In the case of these great games, yeah the interface is somewhat of a learning curve but the game itself is much more of a learning curve which is okay in my book.

Originally Posted by NFLed
"One of the good things that modern game design has given us is crystal clear interfaces, articulate tutorials and, at the least, an introduction that doesn't potentially throw them into a lethal conflict."

Heresy! j/k That's something we old schoolers often forget, there was a huge learning curve for many of the old RPGs. That's not necessarily a bad thing except when that learning curve is due to interface issues. In the case of these great games, yeah the interface is somewhat of a learning curve but the game itself is much more of a learning curve which is okay in my book.

Funny this is what I miss, learning how to really get the most out of the game and learning the gameplay itself. I get bored of things very quickly and that seemed to keep me interested enough to play more then I do now. Oh well.